Plaster-board support.



E. E. FLETCHER.

PLASTER BOARD SUPPORT.

APPLiCATlON FILED JULY 1. 1917. RENEWED APR 21, 1919.

I 9 if?%@ Ill W Patented J une 24, 1919.

Wiizfr b66366 til ED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EST E. FLETCHER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MASTER-BOARD SUPPORT.

specification of Letters latent. Patented J 24, 1919 application filedJuly 7, 1917, Serial No. 179,132. Renewed April 21, 1919. Serial No.291,723.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, ERNEST E. FLETCHER, a citizen of the'United States,and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Plaster-BoardSupports, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improved supporting structures for plaster boardfor rigidly supporting the board for the application of plaster, cement,or other cementitious mate rial in order to form a strong, durablefire-proof wall.

One object of the invention is to produce metal supportin beams or ribswhich can be readily arrange in the plane of the {wall to be formed andwhich offer secure seating for the ends of the boards and to which theboards can be readily secured, preferably by means of nails. The beamsor ribs are preteraebly of T-shaped cross section and'bent up of sheetmetal to provide seating flanges for the "ends of the boards to besupported, suitable slots being provided through which nails can bedriven into the ends of the boards to secure them, and sufficientopenings being provided in the beams or ribs for the entrance of plasterin order that the plaster may obtain a firm clench hold, the beams orribs actin as reinforcing for the wall and forming with the boards,plaster or cement thereon a rigid, fire-proof structure. Theconstruction of my invention is shown on the accompanying drawing, inwhich- Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a section of a wallshowing vertical and transverse supporting beams or ribs,

Fig. 2 is a view looking from plane 2--2, Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a sectional View on plane 33, Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4: is a rear view of a beam. The beam B shown is bent up from aband of sheet metal into substantially T-form to have the web section 5and the oppositely extending flange sections 6 and 7 at right anglesw ththe web section. The blank is bent along its'median section 8 at a shortradius to produce the sides 9 and 10 of the web section 5. The halvesare then bent along a substantially median line in opposite directionsto form the walls 11 and 12 of the flange sections at right angles withthe walls 9 and 10. These sections which are bent at right angles arethen bent rearwardly along a substantially median line and then inwardlytoward each other to form the flan e end walls 13 and 14 and theconnecting wa is 15 and 16. Through the walls 9 and 10 of the websection opposed holes 17 and 18 appear atmtervals, these holes beingelongated in a direction transverse of the beam and forming nail slots.Between these nail slots the front end of the web section is notched atintervals as indicated at 19 and likewise the ou-ter corners of theflange sections 6 and 7 are; ,notched as indicated at 20 and 21-, The

-T: inner ends of the walls 13 and l-i'are also notched as indicated at22 and 23. The various notches 19, 20,21, 22 and 23 form clenchopenings'for plaster through which the plaster may be pressed to clenchagainst the inner faces of the various walls. To give additional clenchsurfacethe inner ends of the walls 13 and 14: may remain separated adistance to leave the gap 24 for the entrance of plaster.

The beams or ribs are mounted in the plane'of the wall to be formed andplaster boards or panels 25 are applied thereto with their end sectionsabutting against the front walls 11 and 12 of the flange sections, andthen nails 26 are driven in opposite direc tions through the slots '17,18 and into the ends of the boards to hold them securel to the beams asbest indicated in Fig. 2. I desired, horizontal beam lengths can bepplied between the vertical beams-to receive the upper andlower ends ofthe boards or panels. After the beams or panels have thus been securedtogether, plaster, cement, or other material 27 is applied to the boardsand to the beams at both sides thereof andthe plaster, being pressedthrough the various notches and openings in the beams, will clenchagainst the inner faces thereof to be rigidly locked thereto. The wallboards shown have facings 28 of material which will give better clingsurface to the plaster or cement and which will also strengthen theboards and prevent breakage thereof when nails are driven therethrough.The cement or plaster by clinging to the boards and clenching to thebeams will rigidly lock these parts together and the boards, andparticularly the beams, will reinforce and stifl'en the wall and givethe desired tensile and other strength thereto, and a strong, solid andfire-proof wall is formed. On account of the entire surrounding of thesheet metal beams by the plaster and the rigid clenching boards can benailed to the beams is an important feature of my invention.

I do not of course desire to be limited to the exact construction andarrangement which I have shown as changes could no' doubt be made whichwould still come within the scope of the invention. I claim as follows:a

A supporting and reinforcing element for plastic wall structures of T'cross-section formed by bending a band of sheet metal along longitudinallines to form web section of tWo parallel but spaced apart walls andflange sections of parallel but spaced apart walls, the opposed walls ofsaid web section having transversely extending elongated slots throughwhich nails may be driven at angles with said Web sect on to secureplaster board against said web and flange sections, and openings throughsaid Web and flange sections for the entrance of plaster between saidwalls. I

In Witness whereof I hereunto set my hand this 5th day of July, A. D.,1917.

ERNEST E. FLETCHER.

